Ranji Trophy Final Wide Open

Nagpur: Sachin Baby, the Kerala skipper, sunk to his knees after playing the slog sweep. Playing his 100th First Class match, Baby was concentration personified for 235 balls, till that ill-fated shot on Day 3 of the Ranji Trophy final against Vidarbha at Jamtha Stadium on Friday.Just two short of his century, and with Kerala 56 adrift of Vidarbha's first innings total, Baby (98;235b;10x4) attempted the uncharacteristic shot off left-arm spinner Parth Rekhade. Karun Nair at deep midwicket pouched the skier. As Vidarbha players danced in celebration, Baby remained on his knee, perhaps realising the costly error in judgement.After Baby's dismissal, Jalaj Saxena (28;76b;3x4) and the tail batted for 15.1 overs scoring just 18 runs as Kerala were dismissed for 342. In between, Vidarbha's Harsh Dubey trapped Nidheesh MD lbw to enter the record books as the man to take the most wickets in a Ranji Trophy season."Baby played a good knock. I think his plan was to hold one end. But a brain-fade moment resulted in his wicket. Definitely, that was a turning point for us as he was building a good partnership with Jalaj Saxena. Our plan was to stop the runs and wait for a bad shot," Dubey said about Baby's dismissal.The end of Day 3 saw Vidabrha earn a slender 37-run lead. The final, though, is far from over. Having Jalaj Saxena and Aditya Sarvate, spinners of high repute, Kerala will be still harbouring thoughts of plotting a Vidarbha collapse on a pitch assisting tweakers, and script a turnaround.Friday's action was all about two milestone men — Baby and Dubey — toiling hard under the harsh sun seeking glory for themselves and the team. Baby started the day with a boundary. Aditya Sarvate, who led the Kerala charge the other day, though, looked a bit edgy. Sarvate's 79-run knock (185b;10x4) ended when a Harsh Dubey ball rose sharply to hit the shoulder of his bat and lobbed up to close in fielder Danish Malewar.After Sarvate's dismissal, Baby stitched together three partnerships with Salman Nizar (21;42b;3x4), Mohammed Azharuddeen (34;59b;3x4) and Saxena. However, Vidarbha bowlers struck whenever it looked like Kerala would gain ascendancy through their batters.BRIEF SCORESVidarbha: 379 all out in 123.1 overs lead Kerala (Overnight 131 for 3 in 39 overs): 342 all out in 125 overs (Sachin Baby 98, Aditya Sarvate 79, Ahammed Imran 37, Mohammed Azharuddeen 34, Jalaj Saxena 28; Parth Rekhade 3-65, Harsh Dubey 3-88, Darshan Nalkande 3-52, Yash Thakur 1-83) by 37 runs.